


Insanity

by cazmalfoy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Doctor/Patient, Dubious Consent, M/M, Mental Instability, The Winter Soldier as a Coping Mechanism, unethical relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 03:44:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazmalfoy/pseuds/cazmalfoy
Summary: “They say I’m insane.”“Do you believe them?”“Somedays, I do, But it’s not their opinion that matters, is it? It’s all on you, Doc.”Doctor Tony Stark's patient James Barnes had always been an intriguing puzzle, and the Winter Solider only made him more so.





	Insanity

“They say I’m insane.”

Across the table, a full pair of lips pursed; the only indication of irritation. When he spoke, the words were carefully chosen and his voice purposely even. “You shouldn’t listen to them. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

James quirked an eyebrow and leant back in the metal chair he was sitting on. “I never said who ‘they’ were,” he pointed out. “I could be talking about the other shrinks in this place for all you know.”

On the opposite side of the table, Doctor Stark smirked. “What makes you think I didn’t know that?” he challenged, drawing a surprised laugh from James. “Do you believe them?”

Even though he had been expecting it, the question still made James pause to consider his response. “Somedays, I do,” he answered. Stark didn’t speak, which was unusual enough that it set off alarm bells in James’s head. “But it’s not their opinion that matters, is it? Not even mine, either; not really. It’s all on you, Doc.”

Brown eyes rolled skyward, and James grinned. “What’s your diagnosis, Stark?”

James could see Stark battling with himself, wanting to keep James talking but not wanting to tell him what he was really thinking.

Eventually, he said, “Recovering Vet who thinks he’s got more to atone for than he really does.”

“You don’t know half of what I’ve done, doll.” The voice was different this time. Tinged with a Russian accent, James’s voice was almost completely unrecognisable. And there was a very good reason for that. It may be James’s body, but the voice belonged to a whole different person entirely.

Stark barely reacted to the new presence in the room. “Hello, Winter,” he greeted, not looking up as he scribbled something down on the legal pad in front of him. “Haven’t seen you around for a while.”

He finally looked up and Winter leered at him. He slid forward in his chair until his ass was perched on the edge. “You know I can never stay away from you for long, doll,” Winter purred. He leant forward until he was only a short distance away from Stark.

It was a sign of how frequently Stark found himself being hit on that he barely reacted to the proximity of his patient. “Why did you send James away?”

There was no answer immediately until Winter said, “He didn’t like where the interrogation was headed, gorgeous.” Tony rolled his eyes but didn’t speak. “But you don’t have to worry about me. You know I don’t spook that easily.”

A flash of irritation passed over Stark’s face before he could stop it. He quickly schooled his expression to blank curiosity, before turning his attention back to Winter. “Why do you suppose James feels guilty for taking lives? He was doing his job, after all.”

Winter raised an eyebrow. Unlike when James performed the expression, he looked thoroughly evil. “You and I both know that’s not what you want to ask,” Winter purred – he actually purred!

Stark was far too experienced to press Winter to explain what he was talking about. Instead, he focused on the notes he was writing.

After five full minutes, Winter was becoming visibly agitated at being ignored and he lashed out. Before Stark could stop him, Winter grabbed hold of Stark’s hand, stilling the pen mid-word.

“You want to know if my cock is cut, or not,” Winter said without even a modicum of shame.

Tony scoffed and tried to pull away, but the grip of the prosthetic was too tight. It was one of the reasons they had wanted to remove it when James had been admitted. But the doctors had quickly decided against it when they’d realised the metal limb had been grafted to what remained of Sergeant James Barnes’s left arm.

“Let me go,” Stark ordered. There was a note of panic in his voice, even as he tried to give off an aura of confidence.

The smirk on Winter’s face darkened, but he retained his grip. “I will if you kiss me,” Winter stated, drawing a startled scoff from Stark. He seemed to have expected that his words would draw that response but didn’t seem too put off by Stark’s lack of apparent interest.

Winter used the leverage holding Stark’s arm gave him to pull the doctor across the square table between them. Without giving Stark chance to push him away, Winter pressed his lips against the doctor’s.

True to his word, the second their lips met, Winter released Stark’s hand. As soon as he was free, the doctor pulled away and jumped to his feet. His face was flushed, and his brown eyes looked almost wild.

Stark was at the door, gripping the handle tight enough to turn his knuckles white, when Winter called, “Hey doc?”

His shoulders tensed before he slowly turned his head to indicate that he was listening to what Winter had to say. “I _am_ cut, just for future reference.”

*

His heart was still pounding a wild rhythm in his chest when he arrived at his office and slammed the door closed behind him. He screwed his eyes closed and tried to force himself to focus on his breathing.

“Tony?”

The concerned voice made him open his eyes again. His colleague was sitting in a reclining chair at one of the two desks in the shared office. Bruce had removed his glasses and brown eyes were staring at Tony with worry.

“What happened?” Bruce asked, placing the glasses on the desk and getting to his feet.

Tony couldn’t say what possessed him to brush Bruce’s concerns to the side. He should tell the other doctor what had happened – what Winter had _done._ It wouldn’t be difficult to get the other man removed from the facility and placed in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life.

“Winter being his usual charming self,” Tony replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. He stepped away from the door and moved closer to his desk, dropping his notepad and pen down on the surface. There was a dark black line on the page where he had scribbled in surprise when Winter had grabbed hold of his hand.

He could feel Bruce’s eyes on his back, but he didn’t look at the other man. He didn’t want Bruce to see the turmoil he was sure was in his eyes.

“It’s been a while since he last appeared,” Bruce commented. “Did he say what triggered him?”

Tony shrugged his shoulders and slid into his chair, finally turning to face Bruce. “Apparently Barnes didn’t like the way the conversation was going,” he answered.

Bruce raised a questioning eyebrow. “At least you’re getting somewhere,” he murmured. When Tony didn’t react, Bruce leant forward in his chair, his gaze intensifying. “What did Winter say?”

He ran a hand through his hair and opened his mouth to tell Bruce what had happened. The words that came out of his mouth were a surprise. “Nothing. Guy’s like a brick wall. I think he’s only said a handful of sentences to me in five years. It’s useless.”

There wasn’t a single word of the sentence that was true, but Bruce didn’t know that. For some reason Tony had yet been able to figure out, he hadn’t told him the truth about Winter’s appearances. Since Barnes had been admitted to the facility and Winter had made his first appearance, Tony had made a habit of keeping his notes on the second personality locked away from prying eyes.

He couldn’t say why but there had been something inside him that had wanted to keep Winter to himself. It was one of the reasons why his sessions with Barnes were never recorded.

Bruce pursed his lips and for a long moment, Tony thought he didn’t believe the bullshit he was spreading. Just when he thought the other doctor was going to say something, Bruce broke their eye contact and got to his feet.

“You need to watch your back with him,” Bruce cautioned.

Tony grabbed his coffee cup and, as he headed over to the coffee machine in the corner, he couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t his back that he was worried about; it was the thought of what Winter wanted to do with the front that was concerning.

*

James hadn’t seen Doctor Stark for almost a month.

Normally their sessions occurred every Tuesday, but when James had arrived in the designated room, one of the other doctors had been sitting at the table. Doctor Banner was nice enough, but the only person James had ever felt safe around was Stark. He didn’t like the change to his routine and had made his displeasure with the situation clear.

Unfortunately, the lack of co-operation from patients was one of the things the doctors at the institute were used to, so Barnes’s refusal to talk hadn’t stopped Banner from returning each Tuesday in Stark’s place.

Banner’s refusal to talk about Stark and what had scared him away had annoyed James. But, deep down he knew that there was only one person who could have done something.

Winter.

James had no clue about anything that happened when Winter was in control of their body. All he was aware of in that time was darkness before he was suddenly back into the light. To James, it felt like no time had passed since he’d been pushed the side when it could have hours or even days.

Once, James had awoken and discovered that he’d missed five months of his life.

When a porter arrived at this door to take him to the consultation room, James followed silently behind the shorter red-headed woman. She didn’t try to make small talk, but James hadn’t expected her to. There were some porters who babbled the entire time – a tall, blond one who seemed to think James his best friend in particular – and they drove James crazier than he already was.

Natasha was one of the silent ones, and by default that made her James’s favourite.

The room was empty when they arrived, and James made his way to the table in the centre without needing a prompt from Natasha. He was used to the routine by now, even if he didn’t speak to Banner.

When she was happy that he wasn’t going to run away, Natasha stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. James knew that she would be waiting outside while he got his head shrunk; the doctors may have to abide by Doctor-Patient confidentiality, but James wasn’t so sure the rest of the staff did.

James was alone in the room for barely more than five minutes before the door opened and the doctor stepped through it.

“Stark!” he was unable to stop himself from blurting out when his usual shrink stepped through the door instead of Banner who he had been expecting.

Stark didn’t react as he moved away from the door and headed closer to the table James was sitting at. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, acting as though he hadn’t been missing from their sessions for the last month.

He was about to say something, but before he could, James started to feel a familiar tugging at the back of his mind. Winter wanted out and he was getting more insistent.

*

Tony knew it was a bad idea to go back to Barnes after missing so many sessions. Bruce had been telling him that it wasn’t fair on the patient’s treatment, but he hadn’t wanted to hear it. He just hadn’t been able to face the possibility that Winter would make another appearance.

It was only because Bruce had the day off that Tony had even swallowed his nerves and returned for the regularly scheduled session.

Barnes seemed surprised to see him after so long, and Tony couldn’t help feeling guilty. One of the first things they had agreed on for his treatment was that his doctor would be consistent. It would be Tony or no-one else. Anything out of that routine seemed to break his trust in the professionals and, after spending so long at the institute, Barnes needed to see that he could still rely on them.

Bruce taking over for him in the last few weeks had been the first time Tony had ever reneged on that deal.

Tony hadn’t wanted to admit that he had been scared to face Winter. Not scared to find out what the other personality would do but scared because Tony didn’t know how _he_ would react when faced with Winter again.

“Sorry I’m late,” Tony said, closing the door behind him and moving over to where Barnes was sitting at the table. He knew it was Barnes because he was trying to curl into himself and pretend that he wasn’t a soldier who had taken pleasure in taking as many lives as possible.

The latter was all Winter and was the precise reason he had been created in the first place.

Tony was avoiding eye contact as he sat down in his own chair, so he didn’t realise anything had changed until he heard, “It’s not a problem, Doll. I’ll always wait for you.”

With his heart beating wildly in his chest, Tony’s head snapped up and he found himself looking into the icy blue eyes of the Winter Soldier. Unlike Barnes, Winter had the confidence of the assassin he was and there wasn’t a single part of him that didn’t ooze arrogance.

“Winter,” Tony greeted with a nod of his head, unable to stop himself from licking his lips nervously. It didn’t escape his attention that Winter’s eyes followed the movement of his tongue, and the scrutiny made Tony feel a little hot on the back of his neck.

Winter leaned forward and Tony found himself holding his breath. “I’ve missed you, doc,” he purred.

Tony drew in a breath and leant back in his chair. He should get up and leave, he knew it. It wouldn’t take much convincing to get someone else allocated as Barnes’s doctor. Even as he thought about leaving the room, Tony knew that he could never stop treating the former soldier.

Barnes and Winter were a puzzle Tony was too obsessed with to give up.

“It’s been a busy month,” Tony answered. He reached out and flipped open the legal pad he’d brought with him. “Lots of things to focus on.”

As soon as he spoke, Tony knew they were the wrong words to say.

Winter smirked and placed his hands over Tony’s. Unlike the last time they were in the same room, the other’s touch was gentle, but Tony still felt the urge to comply with what Winter wanted. He looked up again and saw that Winter was smiling at him.

If it wasn’t for the man’s posture, Tony would have said he was looking at Barnes again.

“What’ve you been focusing on, doll?” Winter asked, a glint to his eye that made Tony feel uncomfortable again. When Tony didn’t speak, Winter continued, “I bet it’s my thick cock that you can’t stop thinking about.”

Even though he had been expecting some form of a lewd comment from Winter, his words still made Tony start a little. Unlike a month ago, he didn’t try to pull his hands away and he quickly realised it was a huge mistake.

When he got no negative reaction from Tony, Winter got to his feet and leant over the table, getting closer to Tony who felt rooted to the spot.

“Why don’t you lock the door, and we can get better acquainted,” Winter whispered.

He was so close that Tony could feel Winter’s breath on his lips. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and his head was swimming at the proximity of the other man.

Tony knew he should pull away. He should tell Winter to get lost, leave the room and never look back. As a doctor who had sworn to protect and help patients, it was the only decent and sensible option to take.

Slowly, Tony pulled his hands out from underneath Winter’s. The fact that Winter didn’t try to stop him should have set off alarm bells in the doctor’s head, but they were all disturbingly silent as Tony got to his feet.

He could feel Winter’s eyes on his ass, but he didn’t look back as he headed over to the door. He should open the door and leave, tell Natasha to take Barnes back to his room and never look back.

There were a lot of things Tony knew he should do.

Locking the door and turning back to face Winter was _not_ one of those things, but that was exactly what he did.

“Well, well, well,” Winter commented, his eyebrow quirking upward when Tony turned around to face him. “Something you want to ask me, doc?”

Tony drew in a breath and was amazed to realise that he wasn’t as nervous as he would have expected. For the first time in a month, Tony’s nerves were completely at ease.

He paused for another moment, listening for the alarm bells and finding that they were still missing.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, and show me how impressive that cock of yours is?”

In the blink of an eye, Tony found himself pressed against the wall with Winter’s mouth pressed against his, and he didn’t regret it at all.


End file.
